Distribution system restoration - a Multi Agent approach

Smart grid is a new paradigm to improve efficiency, reliability and quality of the services provided by the utilities. One of the major components of the smart grid is smart distribution system which includes distributed generation and a two way communication between customers and utility. The reliability of the service provided by the utilities depends on stiffness of the system to abnormal conditions like faults. The issues pertaining to improving the reliability of the distribution systems using advanced automation technologies are being reported in the literature. This paper reviews the state of the art technologies such as Multi Agent Systems (MAS) used in distribution system restoration and highlights the major advantages of the same. In this paper centralized, decentralized and hybrid control strategies, implemented to control agents in restoration framework are discussed in detail.